Can rfid-tags-work-inside-metal

Can RFID Tags Work Inside Metal?

“If you build it, they will come”

Inventory management takes time. This costs companies money, both directly in labor costs and indirectly

by interrupting normal operations. RFID can significantly reduce the time it takes a company to complete

their inventory, improving their bottom line.

The benefits of RFID-based inventory management have been available only to companies with inventory

that was “RFID friendly”, excluding those whose inventory consists of metallic items. Companies with high

value metallic inventory could justify the use of expensive active or battery-assisted RFID systems, but these

were not economically justifiable for mainstream operations. Recently, however, passive RFID technology

has improved significantly. RFID tags have become available that work well near, or even directly attached

to, metal. This has made the benefits of RFID-based inventory management affordable for a much wider

range of companies.

There is still a step, however, in between the point of manufacture and the end customer when an RFID tag

is applied to an asset. This added step adds cost. In addition, the applied RFID tags are exposed externally

making them susceptible to damage from normal “wear and tear” and to deliberate tampering. Many

companies have been asking for an RFID solution that can be seamlessly and invisibly integrated into their

products at the time of manufacture.

XERAFY.com - Can RFID Work Inside Metal? 1

In addition to inventory management, embedded

RFID can be valuable for authentication.

Financial institutions such as Visa, American

Express and Discover have implemented RFID in

credit cards for use as instant payment

mechanisms at retail and food establishments as

well as serving as an additional form of

verification of the card holder’s identity.

Automobile manufacturers have embedded RFID

tags containing the information required to

unlock and start an automobile directly into

plastic key fobs, making it much more difficult to

duplicate the owner’s key and steal an

automobile. Building this level of authentication

and security into other products would bring

similar benefits.

Traditionally, metallic material has been

troublesome for RFID. The challenge of designing

a RFID tag to perform on a metallic surface has

largely been solved. Embedding the tag into a

metallic surface, however, has continued to

render the tag unreadable, or readable from only

a very limited range. The good news is...the

technology to do this exists today, and is available

from XERAFY.

Metal-Embedded RFID

Embedding RFID tags at the point of manufacture

enables the manufacturer to differentiate their

product line from their competition by offering

product that is either “RFID ready” or fully “RFID

enabled”. With volume production, the cost of

adding an embedded RFID tag is more than offset

by the return on investment from customers who

prefer to purchase the product with the ability to

readily have real-time inventory visibility.

For a server manufacturer who sells thousands

of blades to financial institutions and large

corporations, their customers are going to not

only appreciate the fact that their datacenters are

already RFID enabled, but also that the tags are

not only appreciate the fact that their datacenters

are already RFID enabled, but also that the tags

are not vulnerable to being damaged or knocked

off during routine movement of servers from rack

to rack. In addition, when servers return for

warranty repair or other reasons, the built in

RFID may be utilized by the manufacturer for

real-time management of returned/repaired

units.

Large corporations who lease or purchase capital

equipment such as laptop computers, wireless

routers and other IT related items that need to be

accounted for each business quarter for

accounting purposes will see instant ROI from

real-time visibility of asset movement with

doorway portals and mobile RFID enabled carts

that are able to account for a company’s

complete inventory in a matter of hours versus

days.

Military and law enforcement agencies need to

keep accurate inventory of their firearm inventory.

Accountability of an agency’s firearm inventory

serves several purposes. One purpose is to


ensure that all personnel are properly equipped

with equipment. Another is visibility to missing

inventory (either misplaced or possibly stolen).

Finally, when equipment requires periodic

maintenance, a record needs to be maintained of

all equipment requiring service, what service

needs to be performed and all equipment which

has gone through a proper and complete

cleaning cycle.

Embedded RFID enabled firearms provide instant

and discrete tracking to each agency. Not only

will the agency’s equipment inventory manager

be able to know real-time how many firearms are

checked out for service, but also how many

remain in inventory ready to use, amount in need

of service and reconcile total number of assets

registered with actual amount in inventory (i.e. if

any are missing). This prevents unnecessary

ordering of additional firearms. More importantly,

this allows the agency to immediately initiate a

search for missing equipment.

Commercial tools, ranging from hammers,

screwdrivers and tape measures to large scale

generators, jack hammers and cranes, are often

purchased by firms that then lease those tools to

construction companies on a project to project

basis. The leasing company’s inventory is highly

valuable, mobile and broadly dispersed, making

inventory of assets a significant challenge. The

loss of a large item has an immediate business

impact. Even smaller items, while not individually

expensive, quickly become a liability when

significant quantities are either misplaced or

stolen.

RFID-based tool tracking solutions have been

deployed to customers for several years,

including RFID enabled tool boxes and truck bed

reader systems. It is relatively straight forward to

add an external mount-on-metal RFID tag to a

tool; however these tags are vulnerable to

damage or loss during normal use and their

obvious appearance may lead to intentional

tampering. Tools that contain an embedded RFID

tag eliminate these concerns, as the tag is now a

part of the tool itself.


Privacy and the Cost of Manufacture

Like many product lines, particular features of a

part may be optional, but physically designed into

all variants. Embedding of RFID is no exception.

In volume production, the cost to manufacture an

asset will remain the same. Likewise, the cost of

enabling a particular feature set for a specific

customer base is negligible compared to the cost

of inclusion. In the case of RFID, if a customer

requires RFID enabled product, the RFID tag may

be programmed per the customer’s

requirements and ship directly out the door ready

to work upon receipt. If a customer does not

require RFID, the same product is likewise ready

to ship and work upon receipt, with the inactive

embedded RFID tag being completely invisible to

the customer.

Information on a RFID tag may vary depending

upon what is contained. Many systems use a

standard Electronic Product Code (EPC) as the

principle method of identifying a RFID tag and

corresponding asset. Additional product

information, such as product type, product stock

number, serial number or any other information

pertaining to product and manufacturer, can be

encoded into the user memory of the tag.

Several methods may be employed to prevent

unauthorized personnel from reading and/or

modifying the information contained within a

RFID tag. Tag memory may be locked using

several layers of password protection for both

read and write capability. In addition, information

within tag user memory may be encrypted,

making the information meaningless to a would-

be thief interrogating the tag.


XERAFY Embedded Solution

Until now, mount-on-metal RFID technology has

been strictly about surface mounting. The ability

to not only embed an RFID tag that will fully

perform, but also integrate it into an asset at the

point of manufacture was only a dream. XERAFY

has pioneered RFID that not only offers full

performance on and near metal, but also

embedded within metal.

‘‘Managing and recording assets for industrial

manufacturers requires an embed in metal

solution with long read range and XERAFY

provides the only embed-in-metal tags that meet

the performance requirements.’’ Said Jim

Stradinger, Managing Partner, Holland 1916 Inc.

XERAFY uniquely provides:

A revolutionary antenna design, enabling

XERAFY embedded RFID tags to deliver peak

performance when embedded in metal

A small footprint, for limited space assets

such as bolts, IT equipment, metal faceplates

Full performance without additional product

modifications such as spacing and additional

case material

Durability, backed by an industry leading

warranty, for guaranteed tag longevity


Conclusion

Embedding RFID into products has substantial benefits in both cost and product value. Those benefits,

however, have only been available to manufacturers whose products are made of “RFID friendly” materials

such as plastics. XERAFY’s unique technology enables embedded RFID in metal products, bringing the

benefits of RFID to those products manufacturers and their customers.

Contact Us

For more information on this application, product overview or any other questions, please contact XERAFY.


Can rfid-tags-work-inside-metal

Technology

Transcript of Can rfid-tags-work-inside-metal